What languages do you speak?
If you’re reading this, it’s a safe bet that you speak English. Or at least American, which is like English only less so. Most common after that, I’m guessing, would be Spanish. Maybe you’re like me and can speak just enough French to suggest to someone that you all go to the beach, or to ask, “Where is my pencil?”
I know that RW Daily has readers in Germany, and elsewhere else in Europe, but I’m blanking on where, exactly. So there are some other languages represented.
It gradually dawned on me, though, that we all share a common language, beyond the one we learned growing up. We speak running.
Perhaps you aren’t aware of this. Maybe you dip in and out of this language over the course of a day, maybe even over the course of a single conversation, without even realizing it.
Skeptical? Try a little reading comprehension test. Show these conversational snippets to a friend who doesn’t run, then ask him or her to explain to you what they mean:
Person 1: “Are those Glycerins?”
Person 2: “No. Ghost 4’s.”
Person 1: “Nice. I’ve actually been thinking of trying Vibrams.”
Person 2: “If you’re interested in zero-drop, heck, just wear flats.”
—
Person 1: “I’m wiped. I just did three at 6:30
then eight by 400 with 200 recoveries.”
Person 2: “I thought you still had that ITB thing?”
Person 1: “I did, but I foam-rollered it and now it seems okay.”
—
Person 1: “How was your marathon?”
Person 2: “It was okay. I wanted to negative-split and run sub-three;
I went through the half in 1:32, but the wheels fell off
around 21 and I wound up doing a 3:12.”
Person 1: “Is that a PR?”
Person 2: “Yeah. But not a BQ.”
—
Person 1: “Are you doing Marine Corps this fall?”
Person 2: “No, it’s full.”
Person 1: “You could bandit.”
Person 2: “Nah, I’m gonna do Grandma’s in the summer
then maybe do a fall half.”
Probably your non-running friend will read those and then give you a blank stare. You may recognize this stare as the same one you see at parties when you talk about running with a stranger you’ve just met.
And that’s okay. Because I would understand what you were saying. I speak running, just like you do, and that’s a very cool thing.
Source: http://rwdaily.runnersworld.com/2011/12/do-you-speak-running.html
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